A few updates just in from Wilmington artist & customer James Davis.July 9, 2008
Left 501 Shelter early, it was another hard day of hiking in the rain. The rocks are so slippery, really have to take your time. My feet are paying the price for these slippery rocks. I made it to Eagle’s Nest Shelter just before 5 pm. I am really wiped out today; spiders and mosquitoes were bad today – there has been so much wet weather. Mileage today was only 15.5.
July 10, 2008
Slid down the mountain today – like snow skiing. It was so steep, a mile straight down. Got in Port Clinton Hotel about 1 p.m. Nero day. Today, I did 9 miles – broke 1,200 miles!!! Leaping Turtle called me today because he read about me in the newspaper; he is at Delaware Water Gap. My shins are still hurting.
The Port Clinton Hotel is much nicer than the Doyle. The Port Clinton Hotel, served as a stagecoach stop between Sunbury and Philadelphia in the early 1800’s. Stagecoaches stopped at the Port Clinton Hotel, which was a great social center where news from other states and even foreign countries was exchanged. In fact, it became customary when signing the hotel register to add any news that they thought might be of common interest. The hotelkeeper and his family cared for the driver and passengers stabled the horses and entertained with a fiddler and dances.
The hotel’s birth name was the “Gately Hotel” and is now named the “Port Clinton Hotel”. Situated in southern Schuylkill County, the unique little town clings on the hillside and embraces the peninsula between the Little Schuylkill and the main river. Port Clinton takes its name from De-Witt Clinton on the Erie Canal, and was laid out in 1829. A thriving community for many years for large shipments of coal which was brought to Port Clinton by the primitive railroads and was loaded on canal boats for shipment.